Bitcoin Long-Term Holdings Mature as Investors Refuse to Sell

In its latest ‘week on chain’ report, analytics provider Glassnode has been delving into the state of coin maturation to determine overall market sentiment – and it is still bullish.

It added that Bitcoin, which is better than gold according to Mark Cuban, has bounced from its fourth correction in the current cycle and hodling strengthens as coins mature.

“On-chain data for both Bitcoin and Ethereum indicate strong conviction to hold both assets remains, as coin maturation becomes increasingly evident, and network activity trends higher.”

#Bitcoin has bounced from correction lows as coins mature, HODLing strengthens and stablecoin supplies hit ATH.#Ethereum also shows market strength as throughput increases, exchanges are drained and DeFi absorbs $ETH.

Read more in The Week On-chain?https://t.co/0aSkAg1j04

— glassnode (@glassnode) May 3, 2021

BTC Hodl On

The data provider defines BTC bought more than 155 days ago as ‘long-term holder’ coins and this period was in early November 2020 when prices were rallying from $16K to $18K.

The research uses Realized Cap HODL waves to show color bands increasing in thickness as coins mature or are spent into different age bands.

Coins that were accumulated early in this bull market have remained dormant ever since suggesting a reluctance to sell even as prices have over tripled since then.

Institutions and long-term investors will not feel the need to offload the asset quickly, whereas leveraged day traders looking for quick returns are the ones that cause the volatility and violent market dumps when they get liquidated.

These over 155-day old coins can be further measured with the Net Position Change metric which shows the volume of BTC crossing the age threshold over the past month.

“Since 8-April more coins have been maturing than were spent, and this metric hit a 6-month high this week of 96.5k/BTC maturing/month.”

The total BTC supply held by long-term holders has also started trending higher after a period of net distribution and spending, it added.

“This metric further reinforces that on aggregate, more coins are remaining dormant and HODLed by strong hands, than are being spent by LTHs to realise profits.”

Bitcoin Price Update

At the time of writing, Bitcoin prices were in retreat again, falling 3.4% on the day to trade at $56,000 according to CoinGecko.

BTC tapped $59,000 twice on Monday, May 3, but resistance there proved too strong for it to overcome. A sharp decline to $55K was seen during early Asian trading but this provided short-term support and the asset has already bounced off that level.

To resume the rally, Bitcoin must top $60K again as another fall below $50K could spell the end of this bull cycle.